So I take it I need to purge each of these libqt*.* and the qdbus package. What does the "ii" and the "rc" at the beginning of each line mean? "rc" = release candidate in my experience but may be entirely different here.

just be aware that in this cleaning process you will most probably loose app that you want to keep (i see in this first output vlc for example) best option is to let them go and reinstall them afterwards.

ohh that conflict between mate-notification-daemon and notification-daemon; i saw it ages ago viewtopic.php?f=198&t=67502&start=1700#p566635you won't be loosing mate, only changing the way the notifications appear on the screen when using mate. kde has its own notification system.

as far as i can see my work here is done:- dependencies are sorted- kde is installable- it was an interesting trip these days

can only hope that you give kde a fair try and get involved in this sweet world

Very interesting trip and I learned a lot. Seems to me dkpg is superior in its ability to be granular about what's installed. But apt handles and pulls in dependencies better, I understand.

I will give it a fair try. I've heard the new KDE is great. I like MATE, but GNOME2 it's getting long in the tooth. Can't get Cinnamon to work (freezes on boot, no solution thru forum), and Unity -fuggedabboudit!

I've been using Ubuntu 8.04 since my last laptop came with Vista on it. MS Pissed me off so much I dumped Windows and never went back. And I'm an MCSE! I push Mint wherever anyone's frustrated with Win. I think Win8 will push more people over here. Looks like a train wreck.

The ONLY thing I find I cannot do in Linux is synch my ipod nano 6th gen. Apple did something with the database which hosed all of the Linux music players sych-ability. Been watching for a fix, but it's looooong in coming.

I will post you on how this KDE install and use goes. Thanks SO much for the help